Woman charged with DUI after crash and blames brakes, not alcohol

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A Plato Township woman was charged with driving under the influence after she crashed into a ditch and told deputies she did not drink alcohol, the crash occurred because her brakes gave out, according to Kane County Sheriff’s reports.

Alexandra K. McCann, 29, of the 9N200 block of Oak Tree Lane, Plato Township, was charged Sept. 19 with driving under the influence, improper lane use, unsafe tires and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, according to sheriff’s reports.

Deputies were called to a crash at the intersection of Route 31 and Silver Glen Road in St. Charles Township shortly before 3 a.m. on Sept. 19, where McCann had crashed a 2017 Subaru Outback Sport Wagon into a ditch immediately east of the intersection, reports stated.

The deputy observed McCann to have bloodshot and glassy eyes while speaking to him, the report stated.

McCann told the deputy her brakes gave out, causing her to run off the road into the ditch, striking several trees, reports stated.

But the front tires to the Subaru were missing: The front driver’s side tire was completely gone with extensive wear to the rim. The front passenger tire was severely shredded with rim wear and no tires or remnants located near the vehicle or crash site, the report stated.

The deputy also saw two parallel sets of fresh scrapes and gouges in the roadway that were a car’s width distance apart from each other. The scrapes began where the Subaru left the roadway and continued wet through the intersection and along Silver Glen Road, the report stated.

The scrapes followed along Silver Glen where they crossed over into the opposite lane and veer back and forth, the report stated.

“Based on my knowledge and experience, the scrapes and gouges observed were consistent with tireless rims being driven on the roadway,” the report stated. “I followed the scrapes west to Randall Road. … it is extremely difficult to steer and brake a vehicle (when) there is no tire on the rims of vehicles and (where) very little traction with the roadway exists.”

McCann was taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva with an ankle injury, reports stated.

While speaking with here there, McCann told deputies she was on her way home from a friend’s house in the area of Routes 31 and 64 in St. Charles, reports stated.

McCann told deputies the crash occurred on Burlington Road near Corron Road, when the actual crash location was about six miles away, at Route 31 and Silver Glen, the report stated.

While speaking with McCann at Delnor, the deputy noted that she had “bloodshot and glassy eyes and (he) also smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming off her breath,” the report stated.

McCann denied drinking any alcoholic beverages. When confronted about her car missing its front tires, McCann said, “I was mistaken and her tires were fine, it was her brakes that gave out,” the report stated.

After McCann was told she was being charged with DUI, she said she was not drunk, and continued to say, “that other time I was arrested, I was drunk,” possibly referring to an Elgin arrest on April 9, 2019, the report stated.

Because she would not consent to chemical testing, McCann’s license received a summary suspension. She was also given a notice to appear in court.

According to Kane County court records, the DUI charge against McCann from last year is still pending with a status hearing on the case scheduled for Sept. 24.

Court records also show McCann was charged with driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol content greater than 0.08% on Sept. 27, 2010.

In that case, McCann pleaded guilty to DUI on March 3, 2011 and received a year of court supervision, fines and alcohol treatment, records show.